By KO HTWE

Liaison teams representing the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) and the Burmese government’s Peace-making Work Committee concluded a two-day meeting in Myitkyina on Tuesday with at least one mediator saying hopes are high that negotiations will recommence at a union-level in October.

Speaking to DVB after the meeting, Hla Maung Shwe of the Myanmar Peace Centre said the two delegations focused mainly on the issues of a nationwide ceasefire; the formation of a committee to monitor the ceasefire process; the rehabilitation of internally displaced persons (IDPs); and fixing arrangements for next month’s meeting.

RFA

Myanmar has vowed to step up its battle against human trafficking by doing more to check the problem at home and collaborating in preventive efforts with the U.S. and its Southeast Asian neighbors.

Home Affairs minister Ko Ko said the authorities would also emphasize efforts to address the rights of the victims of human trafficking, which has grown into a big problem in Myanmar’s cities in recent years. 

RFA

Myanmar’s Kachin rebel leaders have agreed to meet with top government peace negotiators next month in a bid to forge a cease-fire agreement that could pave the way for a nationwide peace accord encompassing all of the country’s armed ethnic groups, negotiation committee members said Tuesday.

The talks will be the first at the central level since a landmark meeting in May and come as the government scrambles to achieve a comprehensive peace agreement by October.

Members of the technical teams of peace negotiators from the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the government approved plans for the talks during the second day of their meeting in the Kachin state capital Myitkyina, said Hla Maung Shwe, an adviser for the government-affiliated Myanmar Peace Center.

By Eleven Myanmar/Asia News Network

Author: Melissa Crouch, NUS

Major changes have already been made to the legal system in Myanmar over the last two years.

The next 10 years will be crucial to the country’s transition to a democratic legal system. As the reform process progresses, there is an urgent need for a new generation of law graduates capable of contributing to the development and consolidation of the law reform process.

In August 2012, it was announced that undergraduate degrees would begin to be offered once again by the University of Yangon and Mandalay University. This new cohort of students, to begin in December 2013, will include 15 LLB students in each of the law departments. These changes raise key challenges when considered in light of the history of legal education and the tertiary sector.

by Agence France-Presse

PRAGUE, Czech Republic – The Dalai Lama on Tuesday, September 17, urged Myanmar monks to act according to their Buddhist principles, in a plea to end the deadly violence against the country’s Muslim minority.

“Those Burmese monks, please, when they develop some kind of anger towards Muslim brothers and sisters, please, remember the Buddhist faith,” the Buddhist leader told reporters at an annual human rights conference in the Czech capital Prague.

“I am sure (…) that would protect those Muslim brothers and sisters who are becoming victims,” Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader said.

By NEHGINPAO KIPGEN

Today (September 18) marks the 25th anniversary of the last military takeover in Myanmar in 1988. That was the third major military intervention in the country’s political history since its independence. At that time, the country was still officially called Burma. The government changed it to Myanmar the following year.

The military’s first intervention was in 1958 when civilian prime minister U Nu invited the military to form a caretaker government, stabilize the country and hold general elections. The then army commander-in-chief General Ne Win acted as interim prime minister.

By Robert Muller

PRAGUE (Reuters) – Myanmar needs to change its constitution as fast as possible to put the country firmly on the path to democracy, Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of the country’s democratic opposition Aung San Suu Kyi said on Tuesday.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory in last year’s parliamentary by-elections, giving her a seat in parliament.

But the 68-year old faces a tough challenge to have the constitution changed to push on with reforms and to allow her to run for presidency in 2015.

“We need to amend the present constitution that we may truly become a democratic country. This constitution is anti-democratic,” Suu Kyi told reporters after attending a conference in Prague.

By SAN YAMING AUNG / THE IRRAWADDY

RANGOON—A group of 170 Burmese migrant workers returned from Malaysia on Friday with the help of a Buddhist monk, who funded their flight home.

Naypyidaw is cooperating with the Kuala Lumpur government during an ongoing crackdown on unregistered migrants in Malaysia, which has resulted in the arrest and detention of several thousand foreign workers in recent weeks.

The repatriation of Burmese workers was funded by well-known monk Sitagu Sayardaw. He received a donation of US$120,000 recently and spent a third of these funds on the repatriation of the 170 workers on Friday, a representative of Sitagu Sayardaw said, adding that the remaining $80,000 would be used to repatriate more workers.